The Music Box – a Remarkable Invention of Our Time

Music boxes, also referred to as a musical box, give you the feeling as if they have been around forever. We are likely to know someone, a friend or family member, having received one as a present or as a family hand down. The music box is an interesting and remarkable invention with a history going back for many years. Before the modern era of TV and radio, they gave immense pleasure to many, young and old.

The Interesting History of the Music Box

Originating in the early 19th century, the music box is very much the same as it was then, a pleasing automatic musical instrument A set of pins on a revolving disc or cylinder strike a steel comb inside, of which the teeth are tuned to produce the distinct sound that results. Some boxes are more detailed than others, they have small bells and a tiny drum in addition to the steel comb.

The precursor to the music box came from the 18th century, and was a musical form of the popular snuff box. Snuff boxes were items that gentlemen typically carried in their pockets. The subsequent music boxes could range from anything as small as a snuff box, to anything as large as a piece of furniture.

However, as time went on, the more common size of a music box became what it still is today, which is a box that can easily be placed on a table. In 1815, the first music box shop was opened in Switzerland by J